Author: Dan Hiergesell

Francis Ngannou has made his final prediction for Saturday’s (Dec. 21, 2024) boxing rematch between heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk and former champion Tyson Fury LIVE on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Fury, who fought Ngannou to a split decision back in Oct. 2023, is coming off the first loss of his professional career when he dropped a split decision to Usyk this past May. The two heavyweights have been lining up for a rematch ever since as Fury tries to win his belt back and cement himself as the best heavyweight boxer in the sport.

Ahead of his rematch with Usyk, Fury packed on about 20 extra pounds in effort to be a much bigger fighter on Saturday. Unfortunately, that didn’t work so well for Fury the first time around as Usyk’s speed, shot selection, and movement allowed him to have his way against Fury in the later rounds. It’s unknown at this time exactly how the rematch will play out.

Ngannou, who is an avid boxing fan, picked Fury to beat Usyk the first time around. On Friday, the former UFC champion believed a similar result would play out between the two men, indicating that he was siding with Usyk for the rematch.

“From what I saw last time, I think it’s really hard to have a different result,” said Ngannou during a recent interview with talkSPORT. “I mean, it’s not going to be – it might not be a knockout or something, but I think Usyk has a very slick [style]. But, don’t count Tyson out.”

On the same night, Ngannou flipped his official pick and ended up choosing Tyson once again. Check it out below:

“I think Fury,” Ngannou told Seconds Out. “Not that I’m taking Usyk out, respect for Usyk basically for what he had done for their first fight. … He proved me wrong, I’ll admit that. I was wrong on that one, but I still see it for Fury.”

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For complete Usyk vs. Fury 2 results, coverage, and highlights, click HERE.

Boxing fans will once again have to set their Saturday afternoon aside as a rematch between heavyweights Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury help lead an end-of-year card later today (Sat., Dec. 21, 2024) LIVE on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

With no UFC events for the next three weekends and this Saturday’s combat docket nearly empty, all eyes will be on the main event title fight between Usyk and Fury. After all, their first meeting this past May was quite the contest. Usyk nearly stopped Fury in the later rounds of the fight, but “Gypsy King” ended up battling back to bring the fight to the scorecards, which Usyk won via split decision.

The rematch should produce similar if not better results. Both heavyweights have had seven months to prepare and Fury has even packed on 20 additional pounds. He’ll have a staggering 55-pound weight advantage over Usyk when the main event begins, but fight fans aren’t sure that will make a major different. We’ll have to wait to find out.

With Usyk vs Fury 2 taking place on Saudi Arabian soil and smackdab in the middle of the day, when can boxing fans expect to see the two heavyweights make their respective walks to the ring?

The PPV undercard is expected to begin at 11 a.m. ET and feature a total of six matchups. Based on the pacing of boxing undercards and the start time for the first meeting between Usyk and Fury, the anticipated heavyweight rematch is expected to begin sometime around 5:15 p.m. ET.

Stick with Mania for ongoing updates in case the action starts sooner (or later) than anticipated.

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One of the biggest rematches in combat sports today will finally unfold this afternoon (Sat., Dec. 21, 2024) LIVE on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when heavyweight superstars Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury meet once again atop a massive card overseas.

This will be a rematch of their first encounter back in May of this year. While that contest ended up resulting in a split-decision win for Usyk the Ukrainian champion looked much better than the scorecards might indicate. In fact, he nearly stopped Fury with a barrage of punches in the later rounds, but “Gypsy King” was able to lean on the ropes and keep himself from falling over.

Check out the full fight video highlights from Fury vs. Usyk 1 right HERE.

The rematch is expected to produce even better results for eager fight fans looking to close out 2024 with an absolute bang. Fury has packed on nearly 20 extra pounds for the rematch and has vowed to send Usyk to the hospital. Usyk, who stands to earn about $100 million to defend his heavyweight titles again, has looked completely unfazed in the build-up to the rematch. Something is going to break between these two and fight fans will be the main beneficiaries.

Ahead of Saturday afternoon’s main card, DAZN will roll out an undercard countdown show LIVE and FREE on YouTube. The coverage is set to begin around 10:30 a.m. ET and can be seen in the above video player. The DAZN PPV card is expected to start at 11 a.m. ET (details HERE).

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Tyson Fury is expected to earn around $85 million for his anticipated rematch against heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk later today (Sat., Dec. 21, 2024) LIVE on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but “Gypsy King” will forfeit nearly half those earnings to income taxes and national insurance when he returns home.

Saturday’s main event rematch is expected to draw in big crowds for the last major event of 2024. Because of this, Fury and Usyk stand to split a massive pot worth $190 million in payouts. Fury had earned roughly 70 percent of the purse when the two boxers first fought back in May, but now he stands to walk away with 45 percent coming off a loss to Usyk. That’s still about $85 million in salary alone.

Unfortunately for Fury, he’s going to have to cough up about $35 million of that money when he returns home to the United Kingdom. This is according to a recent report by The Mirror, which took information from data analyst JeffBet. Once Fury travels back from fighting in Saudi Arabia he’ll need to pay about 47 percent of his earnings to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

“If you are a resident in the UK you have to pay tax on overseas earnings in the same way, and that remains the same no matter how much someone might earn,” a JeffBet spokesperson said.

“Good tax advice is always important and in this case you can be sure the Fury camp will have looked at an agreement that would be the most beneficial.”

While fighters are always paying taxes wherever they fight, this seems a little egregious. Making $85 million for a half hour of fighting is incredible in its own right, but paying $35 million in taxes from that money earned is downright insane. Of course, Fury had to pay about $47 million following this same tax structure when he banked $100 million for his first clash with Usyk earlier this year.

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Alex Pereira just had a meeting with UFC brass in Las Vegas and it looks like his next fight will be a special one.

Pereira, who went 3-0 with three UFC light heavyweight title defenses and three knockouts in 2024, teased fight news earlier this week. Fight fans were a bit surprised to hear that Pereira’s next 205-pound title defense will not come against streaking contender Magomed Ankalaev. He’s just about the only fighter in the UFC’s shallow light heavyweight division to not fight “Poatan.”

While Ankalaev has had his issues locking down a title fight in the past fight fans were still shocked to see him passed over once again. Rumors began to swirl about who Pereira’s next opponent might be if not Ankalaev. Some even speculated that undefeated UFC middleweight contender Khamzat Chimaev might move up to challenger Pereira for the belt.

On Friday, Pereira had a meeting with UFC officials about his next fight inside of the Octagon and the reigning 205-pound king was ecstatic. “Poatan” released a video from the airport following his exciting sit down, but didn’t offer much information about his next opponent. Pereira did reveal that more news will come soon.

Check it out in the above video player.

“I’m really happy with this meeting. Check out the size of my smile,” said Pereira. “Should I tell them or not? We’ll wait a little longer.”

What do you think, Maniacs? Who did Pereira accept to fight? Is it actually Ankalaev? Maybe Chimaev? Someone else?

Let’s hear it!

Oleksandr Usyk will put his heavyweight titles on the line once again in a massive rematch with the towering Tyson Fury this Saturday (Dec. 21, 2024) LIVE on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is a rematch from their initial meeting back in May of this year, which Usyk won by way of split decision.

This weekend’s callback is sizing up to be an even larger event. It will be the first time Fury is competing off a loss and another chance for Usyk to showcase his world-class skills and defeat a fighter much bigger than him. The two are expected to split a massive $190 million payday to close out 2024 in dramatic fashion, especially with no other major combat sporting events scheduled for this weekend.

Fury is hoping that a substantial weight gain for the rematch will provide him with better results against Usyk. Remember, Usyk neither stopped “Gypsy King” in the later rounds of their first meeting, but Fury was essentially saved by the ropes. Fury is going to be much heavier for Saturday’s reboot so he may decide to lean on Usyk early, tire the champion with his body weight, and make his move in the middle-to-later frames.

While weight could play a substantial role in the rematch, both Fury and Usyk have other things to improve on from their first meeting seven months ago. In case you missed that epic throwdown, we’ve provided full fight video highlights in the above player. Check them out and let us know how each heavyweight will perform on Saturday night.

Sound off!

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